Will Renault be able to compete at Marina Bay Street Circuit like they have done in the past?
The Singapore Grand Prix is expected to take place this weekend and it is probably going to be an important race when it comes to the championship run.
It is expected that Sebastian Vettel, the current championship leader might confirm the championship statistically as well and we might see the crowning of the 2011 Formula 1 champion at the Marina Bay.
The Singapore Grand Prix is held at a street circuit at night and is the only night race in the Formula 1 calendar which makes it a unique event. It is a very difficult circuit and according to the statistics, Red Bull Racing have never won a single Singapore
Grand Prix yet.
Renault or now known as Lotus Renault GP have a pretty good record at the Marina Bay for the Singapore Grand Prix on the other hand as they won the first ever Singapore Grand Prix back in 2008 with the help of Fernando Alonso.
The team was expected to be one of the top running teams of the sport this year after the evaluation of their pre-season test session results and the first two races of the season as well where they secured to back-to-back podium finishes.
Since then, the team has not been able to secure a single podium and they are struggling massively as they have not been able to perform consistently due to some internal issues.
As a result, the team decided to make a major change in the team as they replaced Nick Heidfeld with Bruno Senna since the Belgian Grand Prix right after the summer break.
Other than that, the team stated that they were not happy with Heidfeld’s performance while Vitaly Petrov was giving them more satisfactory results. As a result, they have decided to keep him for the rest of the 2011 Formula 1 season as well.
The team is currently in 5th place in the constructors’ standings as their closest rivals Mercedes GP are in 4th place in the standings now and are leading by a margin of 38 points.
Renault are trying their best to improve their performance but one has to admit that they do not have the potential to score a podium now as they are struggling to cope up with the top running teams.
Since the competition is quite tough as well now, they might not even get a chance to take the advantage throughout the Singapore Grand Prix weekend. The only way they can secure a good result is by giving an extraordinary performance.
Back in 2008, it was Fernando Alonso driving a Renault which is not the case this year as Petrov and Senna are not up to mark yet when it comes to really pushing the car to the limits.
2009 was a pretty good run for the team as well as Alonso finished in 3rd place for them and the following year, Robert Kubica secured the 6th place at the Singapore Grand Prix which is not satisfactory
at all keeping in mind the team’s history at the Marina Bay.
Therefore, it is quite clear that they do not have the capability of scoring a good result this weekend and they would be relying on their luck more than their performance.
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